BY THE END OF YEAR 77

Work together... Help support your child’s learning by building a good relationship with your child’s teacher, finding out how your child is doing and working together to support their learning.

SUPPORTING YOUR CHILD’S LEARNING

AT SCHOOLReading

...they will be working towards reading at curriculum level 4.

Your child will be able to find, think about, and bring together information and ideas within and across a range of books and articles. As they do this they will be able to think of their own questions and be able to answer questions they are asked across all curriculum areas.

If your child is meeting the Reading Standard by the end of Year 7…

As your child reads this story they might:

think about what they have learned about this topic before, at school, from reading and from watching television and movies

understand that the pictures give a snapshot of some of the content

recognise that headings organise the information, and know to scan the headings and first sentences in paragraphs for a sense of the meaning

predict what might happen to Nancy when the Gestapo become suspicious of her

understand more about the history of the Second World War

write and talk about the situation in the story from different points of view.

The New Zealand Curriculum

Copy

righ

t for

the

text

, illu

stra

tions

and

/or

phot

ogra

phs

is a

s st

ated

in th

e or

igin

al p

ublic

atio

n.

read a wide range of stories including both fiction and non-fiction, and with a number of layers of meaning including complicated plots, difficult themes and ideas

recognise most words automatically and work out more difficult words using a range of strategies. For example, letter-sound knowledge, inferring what they don’t know from what they already know about parts of words and letter patterns

choose the best strategy – from a whole range they know – to help them understand what they’re reading

recognise and use features of grammar to support understanding of more difficult words

use their judgement to work out their personal response to what they are reading and think about the strengths and weaknesses of what they are reading, using a wide range of information.

Books at this level look like this:

“The Gestapo’s Most Wanted” by Feana Tu’akoi– School Journal, Part 4 Number 2, 2009

To meet the standard your child will be learning to:

www.minedu.govt.nz/Parents

SUPPORTING YOUR CHILD’S READING

Support your child... As parents, family and whänau you play a big part in your child’s learning every day, and you can support and build on what they learn at school too.

Play card and board games and do complicated puzzles.

Help your child to follow a recipe and cook for the family.

Encourage your child to read and follow instructions for playing a game, making or using a piece of equipment, completing a competition form or for completing tasks for pocket money.

Remember their reading doesn’t have to be a book – it could be a magazine, comic, newspaper, or something from the Internet.

Make reading fun

Ask your child to talk about parts of a story they liked and why.

Talk about the key facts, characters, plot, setting, theme and author’s purpose.

Have them retell the main ideas or describe characters, events or facts they were interested in.

Ask them to show you where the story supports their thinking.

Be a role model. Show you read for a variety of reasons; e.g., to compare products advertised in brochures, to be informed on current issues, to find a phone number or a bus timetable, to relax etc.

Try reading the same book as your child so you can talk about it together.

Talk about the TV show you are watching. What were the main ideas? Talk about the order events happen in – practising this skill is important as children can find this difficult to learn. What did they like/dislike and why?

Talk about it

Find books or magazines about your child’s interests. Reading about their favourite sport, player, team or kapa haka group or an issue they are interested in will help them to be an expert on a particular subject.

Find books that relate to TV shows or movies, or the area they come from. Knowing some of the ideas, characters or ancestors/tïpuna before you start reading can make it easier to understand a book. Talk about how the book differs from the TV show or movie or builds on what they already know.

Join the library and visit regularly to help your child choose books that interest them – you may want to encourage your child to read different types of books including non-fiction stories.

If you don’t have a computer or access to the Internet.

Be positive whenever your child is reading,

no matter what they are reading. Respect your

child’s opinion as it shows they are thinking

about what they read.

Keep them interested

READING

AT HOMETalk a lot to your child

while you are doing

things together. Use

the language that

works best for you

and your child.

Encourage your child to read every day.

Make reading fun and praise your child’s efforts, all the time.

Just because your child can read doesn’t mean that they don’t enjoy listening to someone else reading. It could be a non-fiction book on a topic they like, a magazine, a newspaper, a short story or a longer book read in instalments. It could also be a more difficult book/article that your child needs your help to read and understand.

You could also listen to audio stories together – you can borrow these from the library or download from the Internet.

Encourage your child to read the lyrics to their favourite songs, waiata or haka. Talk about why the composer wrote the song. What were they trying to say? Search the Internet for more information.

Read to your child

Keep the magic of just

listening to a good story

alive by reading either

made up, retold or read-

aloud stories – with lots

of excitement through

the use of your voice!

Help your child to link stories to their own life. Remind them about what they have done when a similar thing happens in the story.

BY THE END OF YEAR 77

Work together... Help support your child’s learning by building a good relationship with your child’s teacher, finding out how your child is doing and working together to support their learning.

...they will be working towards writing at curriculum level 4.

If your child is meeting the Writing Standard by the end of Year 7…

write for particular audiences and purposes using appropriate, clear and logical structures

carefully plan their writing projects using a variety of strategies

use paragraphs that link main ideas and supporting details, within and between paragraphs

write in grammatically correct sentences using a range of language features and complex punctuation; e.g., rhetorical questions, metaphors, semicolons

use correctly-spelt words, using a range of strategies. For example, letter-sound knowledge, spelling rules and conventions, meaning and spelling of word parts and word origins, letter patterns

show they are revising and editing as well as proof-reading as they write.

writingThe New Zealand Curriculum

In this writing, the child has:

described a process of working in a group, to complete a task over time

used headings to organise the description of what they did

made the headings logical and used them to provide information about the sequence of what the groups did

edited and identified misspelt words and corrected the spelling.

AT SCHOOL

Writing at this level might look like this:

This

exa

mpl

e of

stu

dent

wri

ting

has

been

rep

rodu

ced

by k

ind

perm

issi

on o

f the

wri

ter

© C

row

n 20

09.

To meet the standard your child will be learning to:

www.minedu.govt.nz/Parents

SUPPORTING YOUR CHILD’S WRITING

Support your child... As parents, family and whänau you play a big part in your child’s learning every day, and you can support and build on what they learn at school too.

Play card and board games and complete difficult crosswords and word puzzles.

Create a message board. This could be done with magnetic letters and words or a whiteboard/pinboard. The messages might be instructions, reminders or praise for a job well done, as well as examples of work. Encourage your child and other family members to respond with messages, too.

Encourage your child to listen for and use interesting words. Having a wide range of words will help your child create stories which will increase in complexity.

Use technology. Text messages and emails are a form of writing even if the language is not always standard English.

Use computers if your child isn’t keen on writing. They don’t have to think about the presentation of their work and editing does not require a complete re-write. Spell-check helps, too.

Make writing fun

Talk with your child about their day. Talking helps to organise your thinking and is an important first step for any writing.

Talk about new words your child is not familiar with, using a dictionary to find out more – there are dictionaries online.

Be a positive audience for your child. Always respond to the effort behind the message and the message content first (regardless of how the message is written) and the presentation second. Keep in mind what your child is currently learning to do and comment just on that.

Keep a holiday journal. Before the holidays ask your child to write a list of possible activities they want to do that keep to your budget and get them to draw up an activity plan. Remember to include any events or activities you have to attend; e.g. school camp, noho marae, church, doctor, sports training, family/whänau reunion. Your child could write a list of what to pack.

Encourage your child to read. Reading and writing are linked and success in one is likely to lead to success in the other.

Buy interesting stationery for your child to use. Coloured pens and pencils can be an incentive to write together with special paper or books. Give a diary, book or notebook as a present. Plan for them to be able to use a computer for writing – at home or the library.

Look for real reasons for writing. Encourage your child to read and write letters, messages, postcards, invitations, lists, rosters, thank-you notes, recipes, emails. Start with postcards to family and friends, if your child only wants to write a few sentences – encourage your family to write back.

Make lists for a particular reason; e.g., shopping, jobs to be completed, family members who especially like to hear from your child.

Encourage your child to write on their own. Poems, songs, waiata, short stories or a diary – on paper or on the computer – can be ways for your child to keep track of their thoughts, ideas or a particular interest. For example, keep a journal of their sports training, kapa haka practice or compile favourite recipes. It might be fun to write to a favourite author or kaumätua to ask what helps them to write their stories and compositions.

Talk about what your child

writes. Be interested.

Use it as a way of starting

conversations. Listen to

your child’s opinion, even

if you don’t agree with it.

Make writing fun and use any excuse you can think of to encourage your child to write about anything, any time.

Be a role model. Show your child that you write for lots of reasons, e.g., replying to an email, writing a shopping list, invitation or letter, writing for your work or your own study. Use your first language – this helps your child’s learning, too.

Talk about writing with your child

Keep them interested

AT HOMEWRITING

BY THE END OF YEAR 77

Work together... Help support your child’s learning by building a good relationship with your child’s teacher, finding out how your child is doing and working together to support their learning.

The Smith family and the Hohepa family are both driving home from their holidays.

Which family has travelled the greatest distance?

?? AT SCHOOL

...they will be working at early curriculum level 4, solving realistic problems using their growing understanding of number, algebra, geometry, measurement and statistics.

They will be solving problems using multiplication and division that use decimals, fractions and percentages. They will have a range of thinking strategies to help them investigate mathematics.

If your child is meeting the Mathematics Standard by the end of Year 7…

mathematicsThe New Zealand Curriculum

Maths problems at this level might look lik

e this

:

solve problems involving decimals, using addition and subtraction

use a range of multiplication methods to solve problems using whole numbers and fractions

investigate and justify mathematical rules to see if they are always true

create tables, graphs and rules for repeating patterns

sort 2D and 3D shapes and discuss their similarities and differences

measure time and objects using standard measures

find perimeters, areas and volumes of shapes

identify and describe how objects have been moved within patterns

use grid references, simple scales, and points of the compass to describe a given location

investigate, sort and display information in different ways and identify patterns and variations in the information

explore probability through experimenting and comparing actual results with expected results.

This is a small part of the skills and knowledge your child is learning in order to meet this standard. Talk to the teacher for more information about your child’s learning.

Focus on numberDuring Year 7, 40–60 percent of mathematics teaching time will focus on number learning.

Both families have travelled 60km. For the Smith family I worked out

1/3 of 180 = 180 divided by 3 = 60. For the Hohepa family I worked out that 4/6 is the same as 2/3, so 2/3 of 90 = 90 divided by 3 x 2 = 60.

To meet the standard your child will be learning to:

www.minedu.govt.nz/Parents

SUPPORTING YOUR CHILD’S MATHEMATICS

Support your child... As parents, family and whänau you play a big part in your child’s learning every day, and you can support and build on what they learn at school too.

Item

no.

201

0Y7

Get together with your child and:

play games – find a new board or card game that uses strategy

plan and budget the family holiday (or a day trip) – look at the best transport method in terms of time and money, accommodation, and activities to do. Use the Internet for finding out information

guess how many times you use your cell phone a day/week/month and predict the cost. Work out the best price, pre-paid versus a plan

play travel games – invent mathematics games to play walking with friends, travelling in the car, at the park

plan for a family event, like a dinner. What is the cheapest option – cooking at home or getting takeaways?

make bead necklaces and friendship bracelets – calculate the cost of the materials needed and the time needed to make them. Is it cheaper to just buy them already made?

play outdoor and indoor games – frisbee, touch rugby, netball, kilikiti, cricket, soccer, bowls, snooker and darts

build a fort – plan, design, collect the materials and build.

Help your child to:

talk about sales in town – 25% off, 30%, 10%, half price. Look for the best value and make a game of calculating the savings on items your child is interested in

identify and describe how 2D shapes have been moved within köwhaiwhai and tukutuku panels, and how 3D shapes have been moved in carvings

budget pocket money and/or plan ahead to open a savings account. Talk about earning interest and investigate which bank account will give them the best return for their money

talk about current prices for sales of items that interest your child and investigate which store offers the best price.

Involve your child in:

cooking – explore recipes and amounts of food and costs within a budget when catering for larger numbers e.g., school camp

revising times tables – check with your child/their teacher which tables you could help your child practise

investigating which supermarket offers the best deal on petrol e.g., 4 cents off a litre.

Talk with your child’s

teacher to understand

what they are learning

about in mathematics and

what the learning is in the

homework they are doing.

Being positive about

mathematics is really important

for your child’s learning – even

if you didn’t enjoy it or do

well at it yourself at school.

Encourage your child to find out

more about mathematics at the

library and on the Internet.

The way your child is learning to solve mathematics problems may be different to when you were at school. Get them to show you how they do it and support them in their learning.

Talk together and have fun with numbers and patterns

Use easy, everyday activities

MATHEMATICS

AT HOME

For wet afternoons/school holidays/weekends